$60 bn trade with China before 2010: India

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Guangzhou (China), June 5: : India is keen to learn from China's "remarkable success" in developing Special Economic Zones and expects the trade target of USD 60 billion between the two countries to be surpassed before 2010,External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday.

"The trade target of USD 60 billion by 2010 set by our two prime ministers is very likely to be surpassed before 2010," Mukherjee, who is on a four-day visit to China, said at the inauguration of the Consulate General of India in the booming Guangzhou city of Guangdong province.

Mukherjee said Guangdong province, which accounts for one-third of China's total foreign trade, had always been at the forefront of the country's economic reform and opening to the outside world.

"There is tremendous interest in India to learn from your experiences, including your remarkable success in developing your Special Economic Zone," he said.

He said Indian firms had invested in China, including in the Pearl River Delta, and "this trend is likely to escalate in the coming years".

Noting that China was India's largest trading partner, the minister said "if India and China are to grow together, as your President Hu Jintao said during his visit to India, our economic and commercial relationship must become the firm foundation for such growth."

Encouraged by the flourishing trade, during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in January, the two countries had set the USD 60 billion target by 2010. The trade between the two Asian giants is now around USD 40 billion.

"The trajectory of growth in our mutual trade and investment continues to astonish our citizens," Mukherjee said, adding, both China and India were among the fastest growing economies in the world and "our economic development is providing the momentum for growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region."

The decision to open India's Consulate General in Guangzhou, about 120 km northwest of Hong Kong and the second in the country after the one in Shanghai, and China's consulate in Kolkata was taken during the visit of the Chinese President to India in 2006.

Mukherjee said Chinese companies from Guangdong were also interested in the Indian market, adding that launch of direct flights from Guanzhou to India was an "encouraging sign" that both sides want to build more economic trade, scientific, cultural and people-to-people contacts.